Ordinary diners who take part in our annual survey each spring review restaurants and leave their feedback, but we also ask them to score restaurants from 1-5 on food, service and ambience. Harden’s then uses an average of these scores and measures them against other establishments in the same price bracket to arrive at the ratings published in the guide and online.

Snippets from some of your feedback may end up in the overall Harden’s review, noticeably they appear in “double quotation marks”. The rest of our pithy, bite-sized restaurant summaries are compiled by analysing the survey data and extracting recurring themes, looking at whether or not a venue was nominated in any of our categories – like ‘favourite’ or ‘most overpriced’ – and, of course, looking at the ratings for food, service and ambience.

The Harden’s ratings indicate that a restaurant is:

exceptional very good good average poor

All reviews are compiled from survey comments and ratings, without any regard for our own personal opinions, except in cases where restaurants are too new to have been included in the survey. If you want the editors’ view on new restaurants in London you can find them in our Editors’ Review section.

Padstow Restaurant Guide

Harden's Guides have been compiling reviews of the best restaurants in Padstow since 1998.

Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Padstow

Hardens guides have spent 15 years compiling reviews of the best Padstow restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 13 restaurants in Padstow and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Padstow restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.

Head chef at Fifteen Watergate Bay for over nine years, Andy Appletons new refectory-style venture enjoys the most fabulous setting just outside Padstow, and in the heart of the vines on a working vineyard. Lovely views are assured  and theres well-received Mediterranean-style food to match.

WOW! The new-look No. 6 is better than ever. What an achievement! Paul Ainsworths tiny townhouse has kept all the bits which were already fantastic while undergoing an urban-chic makeover (and adding a bar upstairs to make your pre-dinner drinks so much more comfortable); and the amazing cooking, especially of fish, makes it the very best choice for a foodie in Padstow (despite all the local competition).

In a town dominated by Rick Stein places, former No. 6 Padstow chef Paul Ainsworths delightful Italian offers some respite; the really good food  with simply the best pizza a highlight  is all sourced locally.

The original and still the best!  well worth the trip to Cornwall for the perfectly cooked fish, alongside some seasonal specials like spider crabs, moules and amazing seafood curries: thats the upbeat and still probably the most commonplace view on the Stein familys first and still-iconic venture near the harbour  a huge room squashed-in with tables so it can accommodate a big number of diners. On the downside, its profile is nowhere near what it was, service can be slightly erratic and it can seem very expensive.

A great addition to the Padstow food scene  this quirky two-year-old sibling to the Islington original is a great choice for innovative and delicious seafood; you can opt to enjoy it in the slightly cramped 24-cover dining room, or cart it away from the on-site fishmongers.

Mixed feedback this year on the Stein empires informal hotel-restaurant; fans find the food can be very good and a hidden garden adds to its charms, but the poor table layout continues to irk and service could improve  come on Rick you could do better!

Rick Steins casual spin-off  one of his six ventures in the town  serves a limited menu of well sourced and cooked items (including a rare treat of a breakfast) that can be had without breaking the bank. Some reporters prefer the quieter backroom.